This invention relates to the preparation of pre-coated ferrous-alloy components. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of aluminum-containing organic, corrosion-inhibiting coatings to coat ferrous alloys used as aircraft structural components.
Aircraft manufacturers use a variety of different ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the fabrication of aircraft components. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,037 discloses a method for pre-treating aluminum articles to obviate the use of wet-sealants and other coatings for protection against corrosion damage. Ferrous alloys such as carbon steels and aircraft-quality low-alloy steels, for example; Aermet 100, HY-TUF.TM., 300M, H-11, HP9-4-30, 52100, 1095, 4130, 4135, 4140, 4330V, 4340, 6150, 8740, etc. are often used as structural aircraft components. Typically, these ferrous-alloy components which include fasteners, bearings, struts, etc., are protected from wear and corrosion by applying an overplate of cadmium alone or in combination with a chrome plate. These fasteners are often installed using wet-sealant. While this plated overcoat and/or use of wet-sealant protects the ferrous substrate from corrosion, such cadmium and chrome-plating and wet-sealant installation processes are time consuming, cumbersome, expensive and environmentally undesirable.
It would be extremely desirable to impart corrosion resistance to the ferrous substrate obviating the need for the chrome and cadmium-plating and/or wet-sealant installation processes. It would be further highly desirable to incorporate the coating cure step into an existing alloy fabricating process.